Ninja (2009) Review

this is a warning to fight film fans who are looking for good martial arts. adkins is very talented...but (as in undisputed II and {dacascos} drive), most of the fights are sped up or slowed down.

there are about 2 good minutes of fighting towards the end when he is attacked by a crew of dudes in the evil group. otherwise, the ego/stylistic hijinks of isaac florentine get in the way of the real time delivery of choreography (or cover up things that weren't actually working on the set). and lots of bad looking cg gore only adds to the overall feeling that this piece is trying to be like big budget Hollywood, which is not an admirable attempt either. other than a few blood capsules, it looks like none of the actors stained their clothes making this picture-- almost all of the bloodletting is a digital add on.

i'm still waiting for adkins to get his own stellar showcase piece like michael jai white's 'blood and bone' and donnie yen's 'ip man' & 'flash point' or jeff wincott in 'martial outlaw.' whenever that gets made, it won't be directed by speed 'em up florentine.